|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA MEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: NEW YORKMarch 27, 2014Melvin EjimFred HoibergDeAndre KaneNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and take questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Melvin, back home in Canada there was so much attention on Tyler Ennis and Andrew Wiggins and what they would do as freshmen. What do you hope your four years and what you did this year at Iowa State proves? MELVIN EJIM: Just proves how Canada basketball has evolved; how the emphasis, even though it's on freshmen, should be on a lot of guys that have been there, played well. There are a number of guys who are playing, seniors and juniors, who doing extremely well. It's great that Canada is even covering guys in the NCAA, and hopefully it will continue to do that, but don't forget the older guys.  Don't forget the guys that have been doing it for awhile. But just shows how hard work pays off and in the end you'll get rewarded for it. Q. To follow‑up, to that point, do you even worry about what the NBA scouts think about you now? MELVIN EJIM:  Right now I'm just worried about Connecticut. We're just worried about this next game, trying to go as far as we can in this tournament. Once it comes it that next point, then I'll start worrying about what GMs are thinking. Q. DeAndre, talk about why Iowa State was maybe the best fit for you to jump start your career and the journey that kind of led you here, everything you had to overcome. DeANDRE KANE: I think that Iowa State was a great fit for me, leaving Marshall. Just wanted to play for Coach Fred. And the style of play that he puts in and teaches us, it's an up‑tempo type of style, my type of style of play. And just playing in Ames, I just wanted to go somewhere where I can start over fresh. I have one year of basketball left. Marshall and I, we did great things there but we didn't win a lot. I had a lot of individual awards, but I wanted to make the Tournament. And I knew coming here with the pieces we had coming back in Melvin and Georges, and some of the freshmen coming in like Matt and Monté, and adding a piece like me, a guy that can help a team in different areas, I thought we can maybe make another NCAA Tournament run. And we did that and I'm blessed to be here. Q. Melvin, DeAndre, you referred that you've been in this business a long time, and it's a lucrative industry where the players don't get a lot of the economic pie. What were your thoughts about the Northwestern ruling yesterday? Certainly it must have crossed somebody's mind there. MELVIN EJIM: Yeah, I think it's a discussion that people are talking about, and it's hard to kind of stay away from it. But as players you got to try to distance yourself from it, and just focus on what we can control, what we can do and right now that's the NCAA Tournament. That's what we can play. It's a sticky situation. Multiple avenues of the way people can look at it, and some people think it's a success, some people think it's not. But for us as players right now it doesn't affect us right now, so why worry about it? We got to worry about UCONN, worry about this tournament. So I just think that we just got to stay focused on what we can, and when it becomes apparent or something that involves us, then we can start thinking more about it. Q. DeAndre, obviously Connecticut has already talked about they're going to run a lot of different defenders at you. What do you know about Shabazz Napier? And how do you view that matchup going, and how you might affect it with your size? DeANDRE KANE: Well, for me I'm not looking at it as a one‑and‑one matchup. I know a lot of people is. He's a great player. He does a lot of things for his team. He's a leader out there. He makes big shots when they need it. He rebounds the ball, to be as small as he is, as good a guard does in the country. He puts his team in great positions to win. But we're going to do whatever we can to slow him down, slow him down in transition and we'll take it from there. Q. DeAndre, a few years ago before you committed to Marshall, you came close to going to Seton Hall. How close were you to going there and playing for Bobby Gonzalez? And how do you think that would have affected your career differently if you had been playing a few miles from here? DeANDRE KANE: Oh. (Laughter.) I don't know, man. I don't know. That's a long time ago. I don't remember the visit even. But it would have been probably cool playing for Coach, but it didn't work out as planned. So I don't know what else to say about that situation. Q. Melvin, to follow‑up on the Andrew‑Tyler question: Do you talk to those guys? Have they texted you or congratulated in being in the Tournament? And did you know them much growing up in Canada? MELVIN EJIM: Yeah, all of the Canadians are pretty a tightly knit group. Definitely know Andrew and Tyler. Grew up with those guys. Known them if for a long time and we do talk. Andrew texted me when I got Player of the Year. We were doing well in the tournament and I texted him when they lost, and told him that he has a bright future. So definitely talk to those guys. Definitely talk to Tyler. It's a tightly knitted group, and we all know each other, we all interact and have a good relationship. So I have talked to those guys. Q. What makes Coach Hoiberg able to mold successful teams each year with fluid rosters? For both of you guys: What do you think is the key to his success in these three years? DeANDRE KANE: Well, Melvin has been here longer than me, probably he can talk about the long‑term thing. But for this year I just think that just playing for Coach and him just letting us play free, giving us the confidence to go out there and play, play for each other. I love playing the game, and I think we all bought into his system early. We didn't know what we had early on in the year, but we kept competing, kept playing for one another and things turned out great for us. MELVIN EJIM: From the coaching side, he's done a lot of great things, but I think one of the most important things is just the type of scheme that they have. They brought in guys that were going to be successful four‑year players, and then they brought in guys that could help the program right away. Like transfers like DeAndre who can impact the program right away. Preach chemistry and good relationships. When you have a coach who comes out in the locker room and does a bogus dance‑‑ not bogus, it was pretty good. I don't want him to think that, but it does a lot for the team chemistry. It brings guys together, builds that camaraderie and he did a great job. I think outside of coaching, just the family relationships that he makes us build, and the things that we do outside of the game really helps the culture of our program. Q. For DeAndre: Sort of obviously like you said, you don't really remember much about why you didn't choose Seton Hall but does it feel nice to have finally sort of found a home with Iowa State after doing it there and then three years at Marshall and now here? DeANDRE KANE: Yeah, being here for Iowa State has been great for me. It's probably the funnest year of basketball that I had in a long time. We did a lot of great things this year, but we're not done yet and we still got a lot of things to accomplish. But just I think Coach giving me a second chance to come somewhere and finish my career was great, I appreciate him for that. Yeah, Iowa State's just been great to me. This is my second home and I'm happy to be here. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you. We'll have an opening statement from Coach and then take questions. COACH FRED HOIBERG: Did he really say "a bogus dance"? Is that what he called it? I called it it was legit. It was a legit dance. I'll start out just by saying how excited our team is to be out here in New York City. Our guys get the opportunity to play at Madison Square Garden. I'll never forget my first time here when the announcer comes on and says "Welcome to Madison Square Garden, the world's most famous arena." So for our guys to get that experience. The renovations look great. I think the seats were orange and blue when I last played here. But to come out and experience this is just awesome for our guys. You take them out of Middle America, out of Ames, Iowa, to come out here. You try to get the "wow" factor out of the way as quickly as possible, so they can focus on the task at hand. Very excited about our group right now, and the way they're playing, to have to make up for what Georges Niang brought to this team, and still battled that adversity and find a way to win a game against North Carolina when you're down eight with four to play, tells you a lot about our group and the character and toughness that they exude. So we're excited for tomorrow night. We're going to throw everything out there, and hopefully give ourselves a chance. Q. To what extent and what ways have you incorporated an NBA style into what you do? And to what extent do you see that in UCONN with Kevin? COACH FRED HOIBERG: Well, starting with our style, I spent more years in that league than I did in college. I had 14 great years in the NBA, 10 as a player and four as a front office executive. And that's the style I know. Even going back to college, Johnny Orr's up‑tempo style more related an NBA style of play. So to get our guys out there trying to play the right way, trying to play unselfishly, which we have gone a great job with that, leading the nation in assists, in trying to get out and play fast, that's something that we do and we have thrived in. Just the biggest message to our guys is if they go out and move the ball and have great spacing, you're going to get good looks. That's kind of what our offense is designed to do, to draw two guys onto one space of the floor and make the proper play. I do see it in Kevin's team as well. They do such a good job getting the ball in the right guy's hands, either Boatright or Napier, where those guys are so tough. Again, they shoot the ball at an extremely high clip. To make almost 40 percent of your threes, a lot of that has to do with the great actions that Kevin runs for those playmakers. Q. When Niang goes down, how do you logistically redo everything? Because so much of what you do offensively goes through him. In such a compressed time how hard was it? COACH FRED HOIBERG: It was hard. That moment after winning that game against a very good North Carolina Central team that had won 20 in a row, and to walk off the floor and hear our team doctor tell me that's got a broken foot, made it a very tough moment. Our guys had their heads down a little bit when they heard the news, just because of how important he is. And what we do with Georges. Every game I have a play card where I draw plays that I think will expose the team we're playing against. One side of the card is DeAndre and the other side is Georges, and then some other actions sprinkled in for some of our other players. So to basically have to throw out half of what we do and who we run it through is a judgment. But I give a lot of credit to our guys for stepping in and filling in, and you can't replace him with one person. It's got to be a collective effort, and our guys did a great job of that against North Carolina. Q. Do you think that playing in Madison Square Garden still makes an impression on kids today than it might have 20, 25 years ago? Because obviously they have played a lot more basketball and venues in their lives. Do you think it still makes impression? COACH FRED HOIBERG: That's a great question. I do personally. I don't know if there's a lot of arenas that would have the same impression that a place like Madison Square Garden would. They understand it. They see it. They go out there and see the banners. They see the jerseys up there, DeBusschere and Ewing and Frazier and all the great players that played here. They watch the old Big East Tournament out here, and that was a pretty special event. So, yeah, to come to New York City and play in the Garden I still think has a great affect on these kids. Q. Coach Ollie was saying that you guys go back a long way; actually shared a recruiting visit to Arizona when you were in high school. What's the nature of your relationship? I know you obviously played together on the Bulls. You brought him in when you were an exec with the Timberwolves. What's it like going against someone that you're such close friends with? COACH FRED HOIBERG: Yeah, any time you get to share this experience with somebody you're very close with, I think it makes it special. Kevin is as good a person as there is in this business. I think everybody that knows him, you're not going to find one person say anything bad about him. We went to Tucson together. Lute Olson had one scholarship and I think he told both of us, the first one who accepts gets it.  Obviously neither of us took it. And to be able to play with Kevin a year in Chicago, we needed a mentor‑type guy when I moved on after my surgery into the front office, and the first guy to call was Kevin, because I knew the impact he would have on our young players. He owes me, because I resurrected his damn career. (Laughter.) So you know, but and then he goes on to Oklahoma City and had the same affect on those guys. I saw an article the other day with Durant and Westbrook and James Harden, just the remarks that they had about Kevin. And how good he is as a mentor‑type guy. And listen Kevin and I weren't very good players, but to stick around, me for 10, him for 13 years, you have to have some of those qualities to stick, a work ethic, good teammate, and that's what Kevin was. And that's what allowed him to play as long as he did. And he probably could have played a few more years, but I think he was in his mind ready to move on to the next step. Q. I know it's not going to be exactly a one‑on‑one matchup between Napier and Kane, but can you kind of break that down for us, how you see those two shaping up with the size differential? COACH FRED HOIBERG: Yeah, two excellent basketball players, start with that. Two guys that love having the ball in their hands in clutch time. Boatright, I'm not sure I've seen a better guard in college basketball this year with what he does at the toughest time of the game. He's just a hard‑nosed, tough kid that knows how to play. DeAndre is the same for us. When we need something to happen, we put the ball in his hands. So, yeah, two guys that probably do it a little bit differently, but at the same time have the same winning effect on their teams. Q. You mentioned the "wow" factor the Garden, how big is a concern is that for you? And how will you try to counteract that? COACH FRED HOIBERG: The good thing is getting the opportunity to come in today. To take them out to do a couple nice restaurants in New York City, the two days leading into this one. And then any time you can go out there and kind of get that out of the way, and that's been my message to them, enjoy this day, in a very casual setting to go out there and get used to the shooting background and the rims. Then tomorrow it's all about business. And that's been maybe the impressive thing about our team as anything to me is how they have handled situations like this. Whether bouncing back from a tough loss or finding a way to refocus after an emotional win. So really I guess my point is to focus on the task at hand, and once that thing goes up tomorrow at 7:27, our guys will be ready to play. Q. You were a pretty good ball player I remember watching you drain some threes. COACH FRED HOIBERG: Thank you. Q. You talked about Chicago, New York, recruiting for Iowa State, has that been a tough sell until this year? Because again it's sort of like glamorous places versus Iowa, which is nice, but doesn't quite have the points of attraction that other places do? COACH FRED HOIBERG: Have you been to Ames? Q. I've been to the big time in Clinton, but I haven't made it to Ames. COACH FRED HOIBERG: Ames is beautiful. You know what, once you get them on campus, that's the big thing for us. Because then they feel the family atmosphere, then they feel the support that they would get if they would be a student‑athlete at Iowa State. You bring them into a football game, and there's not an empty seat in the house. Our women's basketball program is second in the nation in attendance. Volleyball, wrestling, everything, across the board. The support that you receive in that community is second to none. So once we get the person to our campus, they realize that and they understand that. We have obviously had a lot of success with transfer kids, and to have the Newcomer of the Year three consecutive years, in the Big‑12, which is as good a conference as there is in the nation, that helps, when you're trying to lure somebody else to come. Our freshmen coming in and having success with Georges Niang and Naz Long a year ago, and Monté Morris and Matt Thomas this year. And then our system. I think our system sells. The way we play. We have led the nation in scoring amongst big schools, the last two years. So again you put all that stuff together, and we have had some success with recruiting because of all those factors. Q. You mentioned with how quick of a turnaround it was from that first to second game losing Georges and still how fast it's still a huge loss, but now after a week, how much more could you do in the last several days that you couldn't have done in that 48‑hour period. COACH FRED HOIBERG: Well, I think the biggest thing that allowed us to do is we could put in some more actions. It was tough, we added a couple wrinkles to some things that we already put in in the 36‑hour turnaround that we had from North Carolina Central to North Carolina. To have these four days, and I'm glad we got the Friday game, because it gave us an extra day to prep, put some more actions in with Georges on the shelf. So that's the biggest thing, I guess, is just being able to add more action. So we'd do that throughout the year. I'll go watch a game and I think it could be something, and I'll put it in a practice and if it works, we'll add it to our playbook. So these guys have handled that well all year when we add new plays and new wrinkles to what we're doing. But yeah, I'm confident our guys will go out and execute the new things that we have put in. Q. As someone whose spent time in both the NBA and the college game, what was your reaction to the Northwestern news yesterday, the ruling that the football team can form a union? COACH FRED HOIBERG: What happened? Q. There was a ruling in Chicago yesterday that the Northwestern football team was going to be able to unionize, going forward. And if you don't know anything about it that's OK? COACH FRED HOIBERG: Yeah, I'm sorry, I didn't. Again I'm sorry, I'm a little focused on this game. But, yeah, I would have to think about that one, I guess. Thanks. THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you, coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|